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claudiusthegod's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Some pretty writing but odd and sometimes uncomfortable to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Murder
iancarpenter's review against another edition
3.0
Given Mailer's very vocal and macho public life it was impossible for me to read this and not keep thinking, "this is what Mailer thinks men are." I read so much that to me is at least tangentially about masculinity: Ellroy, Bukowski, Easton Ellis, Kerouac, Ondaatje, but never, even when it's writers damning men, do I disconnect and feel the authorial desire like I do here. It feels so postural, desperately so at times. It took me a couple hundred pages to get over this. BUT, the writing is incredible: fluid, bold, and reaching for crazy heights. It's a huge push to extremes, to a nasty, vivid honesty about selfishness, desire, cruelty and insecurity. Not 100% for me, but an interesting read, particularly given how close to shocking it must have felt when published.
worm_man's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
NOT GOOD
catherine_80's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jacobbou's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
beaukowski's review against another edition
3.0
Was very good then very bad also Mr Rojack is very unlikeable but not in a Patrick Bateman way but in a ‘this man is a walking ick’ kind of way
jackb_93's review against another edition
Brilliant, maddening, furious, frustrating. The epilogue is one of the best pieces of writing I've ever read
kasualobserver's review against another edition
5.0
An extraordinary novel, whose incredible power is hard to describe or explain. Like a impressionist painting - but a thousand times more violently - it directly addresses your emotions and bypasses your intellectual understanding of the text. It is a literary version of a good Tarantino movie, 40 years early. The violence and the sex are not pointless, they are geared to punching you in the stomach and making you react to the style of the book as strongly as the author wrote it.
Much of the story is purposefully unrealistic, incredible, over the top - clearly just a tool in the hand of the writer to make the book a weapon that he can strike you with - a way to imprint you, the reader, with raw emotions which no other book I have read was able to express with the same power.
Not a book that should be read by anyone younger than a mature teenager:-)
Much of the story is purposefully unrealistic, incredible, over the top - clearly just a tool in the hand of the writer to make the book a weapon that he can strike you with - a way to imprint you, the reader, with raw emotions which no other book I have read was able to express with the same power.
Not a book that should be read by anyone younger than a mature teenager:-)
oceanlistener's review against another edition
1.0
A woman writes about relationships and family, it's chick-lit.
Norman Mailer jerks off, leaves his mess all over paper, and we're supposed to call it literature? Rather, this book is the pinnacle of dick-lit: a genre referred to as "literature" by the establishment, but is actually male fantasy trash.
Norman Mailer jerks off, leaves his mess all over paper, and we're supposed to call it literature? Rather, this book is the pinnacle of dick-lit: a genre referred to as "literature" by the establishment, but is actually male fantasy trash.
bloomability47's review against another edition
2.0
Hypermasculinity, misogyny, and racism. It gets two stars for some pretty writing, though overall... Bullshit. Now to write a fucking essay on this asswash.